Electronics is nowadays among the most demanded technologies for the accelerated development of the digital world. The enhanced need of efficient functionalities and multifunctionalities of electronic devices enhances the interest for new materials and systems that are cheap, sustainable and which can operate with a low power consumption and moreover, are recyclable or degradable materials, in order to reduce the electronic waste. With the boom of graphene, new 2D van der Waals materials are fulfilling the above criteria and are reaping attention due to an enormous spectrum for novel applications in electronics, photonics, spintronics, secure information storage and communication, catalysis, bioelectronics, sensing, energy storage and conversion. In this project, the focus is directed on the development of advanced strategies of chemical and physical surface manipulation, such as adsorption and/or doping with adatoms or organic molecules, application of local electric, mechanic and magnetic stimuli for activating and controlling the structure and the related electronic, magnetic and spintronic properties of new 2D materials and in hybrid heterostructures. The investigations will follow the path of control and performance from a microscopic approach at single functional level, with atomic and molecular resolution, to proximity effects and collective electronic, magnetic and spin-transport behavior in single 2D layers, multilayers, hybrid 2D and/or intercalated systems.
Bogdana Borca
Victor Kuncser
Claudiu Locovei
Nicusor Iacob
Claudiu Caraiani
Marinela Alina Ionescu
Bocirnea Amelia Elena
Alexandra Corina Iacoban
Angel-Theodor Buruiana (former member)
Presentations (Talks):
- European Conference on Innovative and Advanced Epitaxy – May 19-23 (2025) Pisa, Italy
B. Borca et. coll. "Manipulating electronic and magnetic properties of a 2D antiferromagnetic material through interface effects"
- E-MRS Fall Meeting 2025 - September 15 -18 (2025) Warsaw, Poland
B. Borca et coll. "Exploring interface-driven phenomena in a 2D van der Waals antiferromagnetic material"
https://www.european-mrs.com/meetings/2025-fall-meeting
- 2025 International Semiconductor Conference (CAS) - October 7-11 (2025) Sinaia, Romania
B. Borca et coll. (best paper award) "Local characteristics of structural and electronic properties of junctions of the NiPS3 2D Van der Waals material"
- The 17th International Conference on Physics of Advanced Materials (ICPAM-17) - November 16-23 (2025) Hamamatsu, Japan
B. Borca (invited) "Local characterization and manipulation of electronic properties in functional 2D materials via scanning tunneling microscopy"
- Magnetic nanoparticles, magnetoresponsive nanocomposites, magnetically controllable fluids and applications, Laboratory of Magnetic fluids Timişoara 1975-2025, October 23 (2025) Timisoara, Romania
V. Kuncser (invited) "Changing magnetic dimensionality by assembling magnetic nanoelements. New functionalities and applications"
LMF50-program-Timisoara Oct23 2025
- Invited talk - Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, February 20, 2026, Vienna, Austria
B. Borca (invited) "Unveiling the Electronic Nature of Two-Dimensional Materials at the Surface"
- Invited talk - Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maine, March 27, 2026, Orono, Maine, USA
B. Borca (invited) "Surface-sensitive studies of electronic properties in 2D materials"
BBorca_University of Maine USA 2026
- 2026 MRS Spring Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, April 26 - May 1, 2026
B. Borca et coll. "Nanoscale Schottky Junction of a Locally Warped PdSe₂ Monolayer"
https://eppro01.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=MRSSPRINGLITE26
- 11th International Workshop of Materials Physics: Trends in neuromorphic devices and interfaces, Magurele, Romania, June 2-3, 2026
B. Borca et coll. "Toward efficient probabilistic bits using 2D magnetic materials"
https://infim.ro/event/11th-international-workshop-of-materials-physics/
Publications:
K. Sotthewes et al. "Competing effects of geometrical deformation and band bending on the electronic properties of a nanoscale Schottky junction of PdSe2"
2D Materials 13, 015005 (2026) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2053-1583/ae1847
L. Trupina et al. "Local Characteristics of Structural and Electronic Properties of Junctions of the NiPS3 2D Van Der Waals Material"
IEEE Proceedings 2025 International Semiconductor Conference (CAS), Publication Year: 2025, Page(s):31 - 34,
https://doi.org/10.1109/CAS66707.2025.11222388
I. Cojocariu et al. "Orbital-Driven Electronic Anisotropy in Nickel Phosphorous Trisulfide"
Surfaces and Interfaces 84, 108571 (2026) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfin.2026.108571
PROJECTS / NATIONAL PROJECTS